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Functional Tigerlily

#9c4f0a
Notes

Functional Tigerlily (#9C4F0A) is a deep orange with a jewel character. It carries the deep, saturated richness of a gemstone. Authoritative and slightly formal, it works well for type and heavy UI elements. Its HSL profile (28°, 88%, 33%) places it in the highly saturated band at a dark lightness. Best used in small doses, like logos, CTAs, focus rings, or highlight text, where its saturation becomes a feature rather than noise. For a confident two-color system, pair it with its complementary azure. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#9c4f0a
RGB
rgb(156, 79, 10)
HSL
hsl(28, 88%, 33%)
HWB
hwb(28 4% 39%)
OKLCH
oklch(51.3% 0.125 53.8)
P3
color(display-p3 0.5724 0.3257 0.1237)
HSV
hsv(28, 94%, 61%)
LAB
lab(42.28% 28.06 48.95)
LCH
lch(42.28% 56.42 60.18)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 49%, 94%, 39%)

Etymology

Functional
adjective

Latin fūnctiō, performance — adjectival suffix -al. As a color modifier, functional implies a clear-and-purpose-fit-and-utilitarian quality, the crisp color of Mid-Century-Modern and Bauhaus form-follows-function design-aesthetic. Sits at the crisp-and-functional end of the grid, parallel to practical and utilitarian in usage.

Tigerlily
noun

Lilium lancifolium, the East Asian lily named for the dark-spotted orange petals that suggested big-cat markings to Victorian gardeners. The color is the petal interior of a fully open tigerlily: a saturated, slightly red orange with the matte finish of bee-pollinated flower. Warmer than carrot, more chromatic than rust; the orange of a high-summer perennial bed.

Closest matches

The nearest named color in three reference sources, ranked by perceptual distance (ΔE76 in CIELAB). ΔE < 1 is imperceptible to most viewers; ΔE > 10 is clearly different. When two sources point to the same hex they’re merged into one tile; click any to open that color’s page.

Variations

Click any swatch to explore

Harmonies

Accessibility

Color-vision simulation

How this color appears to viewers with the four major color-vision-deficiency types. Computed via the Machado (2009) physiologically-based model. If a tile matches the original, the color reads the same to that viewer.

#9c4f0a
Original
#665900
Protanopia
#786b08
Deuteranopia
#ac3d43
Tritanopia
#5a5a5a
Achromatopsia
WCAG contrast

The color used as foreground text against pure white and pure black, with the contrast ratio and WCAG 2.1 grade. Aim for AA (4.5:1) for body text and AA Large (3:1) for 18 pt+ headlines; AAA (7:1) is the gold standard for long-form reading surfaces.

The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AAon White
5.94:1
The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AA Largeon Black
3.54:1

Wide gamut

Display P3 representation

The CSS Color 4 wide-gamut form of this color. Both swatches render the same color on every display — the P3 form only diverges from sRGB when a designer pushes channels outside sRGB's reach.

sRGB hex
sRGB hex
##9C4F0A
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.5724 0.3257 0.1237)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.125

Moderately saturated colors gain a small bump in P3 — the difference is usually visible side-by-side on wide-gamut hardware but won't change the character of the color.

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